To be a Hanyou
by Kirara
Summary: Uh...It's like the origional story of Inuyasha but with a bit of a twist: Kagome isn't from the future and everything takes place in the past. She's still a Miko and...i'll tell u what else later in the fic. Semi-AU. please R+R. =^.^=
1. In the Fading Light

DiScLaImEr: I-don't-own-Inuyasha-even-a-fool-who-had-lost-his-five-senses-could-figure-that-out-you-idiot-so-why-do-I-have-to-write-this-each-and-every-time??!!   
  
  
  
  
  
  
ABOUT THE FIC: All right! Noodals is back again with yet another fic~! This, I suppose, is a semi-AU fic because it takes place in the past and Inuyasha is a demon and stuff but Kagome isn't from the future.   
For all of you Shippo fans out there: I'm gonna throw Shippo in this fic too!   
So. This is my first fic in the past and also my first fic with Shippo. I really hope you enjoy this fic as much or even more than my others (assuming that you've read another one of mine ^^).  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Thanks a lot and please enjoy~!  
-Noodals  
=^.^=  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
To be a Hanyou:   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The girl passed through the forest with speed. It was dusk and already the nocturnal youkai were stirring and preparing for a nightly hunt. She needed to find a place to stay and her stomach was constantly reminding her how empty it and her pack was.   
'Hm...I think there's only a loaf of stale bread in my pack at the moment. It would definitely be good to stock up on rice and fish.' She thought to herself, as her stomach rumbled. 'I could wake the forest with my stomach if I don't get real food into it.'  
A bush quite near to her suddenly rustled. Her instincts made her move out of the way and her feet rushed her 15 feet away and then spun her around so that she could face the opponent. Subconsciously, she felt her right hand finger one of the eight daggers sheathed in a sash that was pinned from her left shoulder to her right hip.  
"Who's there?" She said cautiously as her right hand pulled out one of the knives. Or maybe an arrow would be better. She had always counted on her aim with a bow and arrow more than with a throwing knife.   
'To late to change now,' she thought as the youkai lunged at her from the bush. The teenaged girl sent a burst of strange power to the knife as she hurtled it towards the animal flying towards her. It died it instantly.   
As she walked over to retrieve her short knife, she looked over the animal. It looked like a common badger youkai. Not very tasty to eat. It was still small because it was only early summer and so it was probably learning how to hunt.   
The girl pulled the knife from its small body and looked for a suitable leaf that would wipe off a large portion of the blood.  
'Wait a minute.' She stopped to think for a second. 'It was learning how to hunt, which probably means its mother is near by to teach it.'   
She plucked a leaf from a nearby plant so that she could wipe the blood from the knife before placing it back into its sheath. She would clean it properly later. She needed to get out of there now before the badger baby's mother came after her. And badger mothers are vicious.   
Suddenly there was a soft snarl from maybe 20 yards behind her.   
'Shit.'   
The girl took off as she ran the leaf along both sides of the knife and then pocketed it in its sheath. There was a growl and then scraping claws as the badger mother took the chase to avenge its cub's death.   
At that instant, like several instances before, the girl really, really wished she had learned how to use a sword. She even just wished that she had a sword on her. It would just be too easy to whip out a sword and spin around, cutting the animal in half as it pounced into the air to attack.   
'No such luck.'   
And her luck just got worse.   
She tripped.   
And with a brutal, PMSing badger mother behind her, that was probably the last thing in the world, that she wanted to do.   
When her foot hit the stray root, her body automatically curled up into a ball and 'rolled' into the fall, just the way her father had taught her to so many years ago. She continued into the roll to maybe have it easier getting herself back up again but as her arm stuck out for balance, the badger attacked it, causing it to bleed.  
The teenaged girl snatched the longest dagger in her sash and stabbed at the spot she thought the animal was. She was instantly rewarded with a howl from the creature and it unfortunately only attacked her more.   
Her left arm, that wouldn't stop bleeding, reached for a second blade and so with two hands holding two knives, the girl attacked the shrieking youkai with as much vengeance as she was being attacked with.   
The girl would have loved to let the badger go because she wasn't all that partial to killing things but at this moment it was a 'kill or be killed' situation.   
Finally, the badger lay dead.   
The young woman didn't have much time. Any minute, youkai would be showing up and would start following the scent of her freshly flowing blood.  
After plucking another leaf for her blades, she sprinted towards the smell of smoke from the cooking fires from a village up ahead.  
Cooking fires...  
FOOD~!  
Her sprint plowed her past the edge of the forest and through rice fields. Her feet didn't slow down until she was in front of a hut that looked like it belonged to the priestess. The teenaged girl knocked lightly on the doorjamb and waited for only a short period of time before a withered old lady pulled back the straw mat door to admit her in.  
"Kikyo? Is it you?" the lady asked with slight disbelief. "Did you find the Shikon no tama already?"   
"Er..." Kagome wondered who this Kikyo person was, but more importantly, she wondered when this old lady was going to help her with her bleeding arm. It was really starting to get painful.   
"Eh? You...you aren't Kikyo??"  
"No...I don't believe I am..."   
"......"  
"My name is Kagome and I would really appreciate it if you could give me herbs to bind my arm before it gets infected. I appear to be out."  
"Oh. Of course. Why don't I do it for you instead."   
"Thank you."   
'For finally catching my drift.' Kagome thought.   
The lady led her in and sat her by the fire as she prepared a poultice for the wounds on her left arm.   
"My name is Kaede. My older sister Kikyo was the priestess of this village a long time ago." The old woman explained.  
"What happened?"  
"She died...50 years ago. But there was an ogress named Urasue, who revived her body but her soul did not return to it. The only reason would be because it was already reincarnated into another body."  
"Why would an ogress want your sister?" Kagome furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. 'And why are you telling so much about you to me??'   
"Because Kikyo is the miko who was trusted to care for the jewel called the Shikon no Tama. Urasue wanted it to obviously become stronger."  
This grabbed Kagome's attention.  
"Shikon no tama, eh? I've heard of it and I'm looking for it too. Why? BECAUSE I CAN SENSE IT EVERYWHERE I GO!!! And it's DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!" Kagome punched the floor with her good arm.   
"Hm...you can sense it, can you? You know, it is very possible that you could be my undead sister's reincarnation. She could always sense where the jewel was and you look very much like her."  
"Un...dead....O.O" Kagome shuddered.   
"She doesn't look like a mummy or anything!! Actually, she only looks a few years older than you, Kagome." Kaede glared.   
"How? You said that she was your older sister. Wouldn't she be...older than you?"  
"I know I'm 75 or something (I lost count about 20 years ago ^.^), but Kikyo died when she was only a few years older than you and was only resurrected about one and a half years ago. She started out with...an old friend to look for the jewel last year. She comes home maybe once a month to check on the village. I think that the only reason that her partner that she is traveling with is still traveling with her, is because he doesn't know that eventually she will be forced to give it to Urasue." Kaede applied the herb mixture to Kagome's bleeding arm.  
"Partner? There to protect her or something?" Kagome asked while wincing as the poultice stung her cuts and also while eyeing the pot of something bubbling on the stove.   
"Yes, but do not underestimate my sister's power. She is very good with a bow." Kaede finished wrapping the bandage.   
"Hey, is there anything to eat in that pot?" Kagome asked, ignoring the last sentence.   
Kaede smiled as she spooned the soupy liquid into two bowls.   
"So why do you want the Shikon no Tama?" The old lady asked.  
Kagome thought for a minute.   
"I don't want it to fall into the wrong hands. I would hate to see a youkai swallow it. It would almost be unstoppable."   
"True. Do you really think that it should be used? By any hanyou or youkai?"   
"I don't really know. I'm really suspicious about where it came from. No one seems to be able to tell me."  
"I hear there is a village deep in the mountains...it may be a myth but when you find it, you might want to look around there."   
Kagome nodded in response as she sipped the warm, good tasting soup.  
  
After moving on to more pleasant talk, Kaede offered Kagome to spend the night in her hut. Kagome agreed and lay out on the futon and went to sleep.  
  
***  
  
Then following morning, Kagome woke with the sun and started to smell the aroma of food wafting from the pot on the stove. Kaede was nowhere around so Kagome found a bowl and spooned out her breakfast.   
Yum!  
She then began to hunt around for the old woman so that she could restock her pack with food and medical supplies and then be on her way. She was afraid that the person with the Jewel would move on and she would lose track of it.  
  
"Do not take my sister lightly, Kagome." The old lady's voice sounded from behind her.  
Kagome turned around and found Kaede holding up her pack, fully restocked.  
"I think it may be her partner that I'm more worried about. If he's there to protect her and she's already strong..."  
"Yes, Inuyasha is very strong too. Much stronger than Kikyo. Should you meet them, use this." Kaede passed Kagome...something of importance, let's just say...  
Kagome nodded and placed it into the V-neck opening of her clothing. She had seen one of these before and knew how to use it.  
"Thank you very much for your kind hospitality." Kagome bowed.  
"Anytime. Come back and visit sometime!"   
  
As Kagome left the village, she thought about the undead priestess, Kikyo.   
'I have the feeling that our paths will meet...very soon perhaps.' She thought.  
And she continued with her day of tracking the Jewel.   
  
***  
  
Midday   
  
"Kikyo...This blood...it smells like yours!"  
"Like mine used to, you mean." She replied dryly. 'I wonder if I could use the Shikon no Tama to become alive again...' she thought.   
The hanyou ignored her. Two carcasses of badger youkai and blood that smelt of his beloved undead miko. Near the village.   
"The old woman had better have an answer..." he said out loud.   
And Kikyo followed.  
  
***  
  
"She looked just like me and was tracking the Shikon no Tama?" Kikyo repeated what her 'younger' sister had just told her.  
"By sensing it. She is skilled too, with weapons."  
"What weapons did she carry, old hag?"  
Kaede sniffed in annoyance at Inuyasha's manners.  
"I won't tell you if you plan on killing her over the jewel."  
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her ignorance.  
"We want the Jewel. It's not like I'm going to kill her if she doesn't have it, but if she does... If she wants to die for it instead of handing it over then fine. I'll have to kill her. I want-that-jewel."  
"That's what I thought."  
"Keh."   
"Tell us which direction she went in, Kaede." Kikyo demanded politely.  
"I don't know exactly." Kaede answered and then turned to Inuyasha who was about to remind her how useless she was, "but I'm sure your 'fabulous' tracking skills should catch her, Inuyasha."   
"Fine." Inuyasha sniffed haughtily. "Let's go, Kikyo."  
"Don't you want lunch, Inuyasha?" Kaede reminded him of food.   
But not even that would stop the hanyou from going after the Jewel that another girl could possibly get first.  
"I'll hunt later."   
And with that, he left.  
He tossed Kikyo on his back and then followed the semi-fresh scent of the young teen.  
  
3 hours later...  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kikyo exclaimed.   
"What."  
"I can sense the Jewel!!"  
"And this is news...?"  
The Miko 'papped' him on the head.  
"It's very strong. Stronger than before."  
"Hmm. That girl's scent is much stronger too... It smells of you."  
"What I USED to smell like, right? Or does she smell of clay?"   
"She doesn't smell of clay. It brings back so many memories, Kikyo...good memories."  
Kikyo smiled (OMG~! (Earth breaking news...) KIKYO SMILED!!! O.o).   
Suddenly, "That's her! Inuyasha, that's the girl!"  
"I can tell. She has a strong scent that matches the one we've been following."  
"Sneak up?"  
Inuyasha nodded.   
  
***  
  
The sky was rosy-pink, as Kagome opened up her pack a snatched something to eat as she kept going. The atmosphere around her seemed to be pulsing.   
'There must be quite a bit of youkai around. No sleep for me tonight.' She thought and then sighed outwardly.   
As she finished the ball of rice she had been eating, she sensed something coming towards her at a strong speed and then it stopped and slowed.   
It was unexplainable. She seemed to have been able to sense youkai and such but now she sensed something like a youkai...and it seemed something else was with that youkai. She'd never felt anything like it. And they were pathetically attempting to creep around her. She pulled one of the knives out of her sash. The youkai's presence was to her left.  
"Youkai, come out. I sense your presence and if you don't believe me, then you can find out how deadly my aim is."  
Nothing.  
Kagome snorted.  
She turned to her right.  
"I don't know what you are, but come on out."   
'She can sense us?' Kikyo thought from her hiding place. 'I'M the only miko around! She doesn't belong here.'  
"Must I pin the two of you to trees so that I can find out who you are, or are you going to come out and be civilized?" Kagome's voice sounded annoyed.  
Kikyo stepped from behind the tree and stepped through a bush to the small clearing.   
Inuyasha followed the same suit.   
When Kagome and Kikyo made eye contact, Kagome and Kikyo both felt the presence of the Shikon no Tama stronger than before.   
"YOU!!" Kagome and Kikyo both pointed accusing fingers at each other. "YOU HAVE IT!!!"  
Inuyasha cleared the clearing in one jump, over to Kikyo's side.  
"She has the Shikon no Tama?" he asked her.  
Kikyo walked across to where Kagome was. She put her hand on Kagome's left hip. When her hand came in contact with it, there was a bright flash that issued from beneath the skin. Kagome's eyes widened in shock when Kikyo took her hand away from the clothing. Kagome untucked her shirt from her baggy pants to look at the skin. There was a purple-pink gleam. Under her skin.   
"I have the Shikon no Tama? ME???"  
"Why on earth would YOU have it?" Kikyo looked disgusted.  
"That would be why I could sense it. Everywhere I went..." she muttered.   
"Give us the Jewel." Kikyo demanded coldly.   
"It's mine." Kagome said stubbornly. "It's in my body."  
"I can fix that." Inuyasha cracked his knuckles.   
"Inuyasha," Kikyo placed a restraining arm in front of him, "Let me take her."  
Kikyo notched an arrow to her bow. Kagome did the same after putting away her knife.   
It was a stand-off in the middle of the woods. Both were waiting for the other to make the first move.  
Kikyo grew impatient and let her arrow fly. Kagome cart wheeled her legs in the air and then let her arrow fly while she was upside-down. It imbedded itself into Kikyo's pant leg, pinning her to a tree behind her. Inuyasha lunged at Kagome. The teenaged girl drew one of the daggers and slashed at Inuyasha's arm. He was a youkai: he would heal easily.   
"Stay out of this!" Kagome yelled at him.  
"Fat chance, wench!" He replied as he readied for his next attack.   
"I don't have time for you!" Kagome snarled as she reached into the V-neck of her shirt and took out the item that Kaede had given her. It was a rosary. She accurately flung it around his neck, catching him by surprise.  
"What the-?"  
"Sit!"   
BAM!  
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS GOD DAMN THING???"   
"I've subdueded you."   
"WHAT??? YOU subdued ME?? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!"  
"HAHAHAHA!" Kagome mocked.  
Inuyasha stared, "I said don't make ME laugh."  
"So laugh already! SIT!"  
WHAM!  
"Or do you not feel like laughing?" she mocked.  
Inuyasha glared at her from his position on the ground.  
Suddenly, an arrow flew towards Kagome's hip and pierced the skin. Kagome screamed in pain as the Jewel was forced out of her body. Kikyo had managed to reload her bow and fire it with her leg pinned to the tree.  
"IT'S MINE~!!!!" Inuyasha leapt up from the ground as his body ceased from being numb.   
"SIT!" Kagome screamed as she too, lunged for the Jewel, even though her bleeding hip was throbbing horribly.   
Kikyo managed to finally pull the arrow from her pant leg and then notched it to her bow.   
"Give me the Shikon no Tama." Her voice was deadly calm, and coated in frost.   
Kagome looked from the Jewel to Kikyo.   
"No." she said and then she ran. Figuring that she could run faster than Kikyo, even though her hip wouldn't stop bleeding, she grabbed her pack and charged off into the woods.  
The youkai, Inuyasha, leapt up and then tossed Kikyo onto his back and took after the fleeing girl.   
"SIT!!!" he heard and Kikyo screamed when his body smashed to the ground.  
"F-f-f-fuck..." he said while gritting his teeth as his ribs groaned.  
"I'll go after her, Inuyasha." Kikyo said.  
"And leave me here??" he said in disbelief.  
"What can you do if you're stuck on the ground?"  
Suddenly they heard a distant 'SIT' and Inuyasha's body went numb all over again before he could get up.  
"See?" Kikyo proved her point.  
Inuyasha momentarily started acting like a fish, with his mouth bobbing up and down as if he was trying to say something but couldn't quite figure out what he wanted to say. Not only that, but he was testing the mobility of his body and he was about to spring up again when a distant 'SIT' reached his ears. And he was once again, motionless.   
Kikyo started to run after the girl, who was distancing herself between her attackers quite well.   
  
***  
  
Kagome's breath was getting short. After running for an hour, losing quite a bit more blood, and occasionally tossing a couple of 'SIT's over her shoulder, she was getting tired. There was a village up ahead! She could take refuge there for the night.  
Waitaminute...   
This was Kaede's village.   
Oh well.  
Kagome made her way to the old woman's hut again and knocked on the doorjamb.   
"Eh? Kikyo? ...Oh! It's you again! Back so soon?"  
"I have the Shikon no Tama."   
"Well congratulations, child! Come in and tell me how you got it! While you're at it, I'll fix your hip, too."  
Kagome entered and sat down while the ancient priestess bound more herbs to her body, "It was in my body."   
"Really? Well it makes sense!"  
"It does?"   
"Certainly! It further proves that you are my sister's reincarnation!"   
"..."  
"How did you find it?"  
"Well....your sister shot it out of me with an arrow...hence the wound."  
"Of course, child. So my sister shot you with an arrow to force it out?"  
"Yup. And now she and her 'body guard' youkai are both on my trail."  
"Youkai? Inuyasha's not a youkai!"  
"He...he isn't? But....he can't be...he's too strong to be..."  
"A hanyou? No he's not too strong at all! He comes from a very strong family. Well bred. He had a wonderful mother from what I hear, too."  
Kagome lapsed into silence. Hanyou...keh. All that fuss and fear that it could be a youkai and it was just a bloody hanyou.  
  
As she lay down to sleep in the old woman's hut, she felt the presence of the miko. And then the hanyou's.   
'No sleep tonight,' she thought for the second time that day, as she placed a hand on her sash that was but a foot away from her sleeping position.   
  
  
  
  
Probably not as good as my other fics but...whatever...review please!  
  
=^.^= 


	2. In the Light of the Moon

Disclaimer: What can I say? Two words: I'M BROKE!! (and Inuyasha has got to be darned expensive~!)  
  
  
  
Welcome back my...two...lovely...reviewers...-_- I can see that this fic ISN'T a hit but no matter. I enjoy writing it anyways. ^.^  
  
  
  
  
  
  
To be a Hanyou  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Kikyo, in spite of herself, yawned as she made it to the outskirts of the village. She tracked the Jewel down to Kaede's hut and caught a faint gleam of it. Even though it was a powerful jewel, because she was resurrected, her Miko powers had a limit and one of them was that she had a hard time seeing magic things. No matter: as long as she could see it faintly, that was good enough.  
The bush beside her rustled as the hanyou, Inuyasha, landed from a leap.  
"See? I made it here just a little bit after you! IF you had of waited for me, you wouldn't have had to run after her!" he scoffed.  
She could see he was still pissed at her for leaving him behind AND he did have a point.   
"Are you saying that I'm too weak to fight tonight and that we should wait until morning? For all we know she could slit our throats if she found us asleep. That's what I would do to knock off two of my enemies, and seeing as she's me..."   
"She's not you, Kikyo. I realize that you two definitely look alike and you may even share the same Miko powers, but that may be where the similarities end."  
"Are you saying that you DON'T think she'll kill us if she finds us?"  
"No, I'm not saying that. What I am going to say is that I want the Jewel. I understand that you aren't in good condition to fight but let me handle the hand to hand combat."  
"Inuyasha I want to kick her butt for once!!"  
"What's 'for once' supposed to mean?" he smirked.  
She scowled at him.  
"Besides, I want the Shikon no Tama as soon as possible!" he added again.  
"Fine."  
  
***  
  
In the hut...  
  
"Kaede."  
"Hm?" Kaede responded sleepily.   
"They're coming."  
"Well, if you get into a fight, be sure to take it outside." Kaede yawned.  
"You're really not worried, are you..."  
"Why should I be? You can take care of yourself, Kikyo can take care of herself and Inuyasha can take care of himself."  
"Well, we aren't kids anymore..." Kagome muttered.  
"Remember this, Kagome: Neither of those two are afraid to kill you. I know it isn't right and I know that you wouldn't kill them, if you had the choice. But also think about this: I may be her sister but if you kill my sister, don't think of it 'killing'...think of it as returning her to rest."  
Kagome did think about this and it made it seem so much easier to kill her...or return her to rest, because that's exactly what it was. Kikyo had already died and it wasn't right for the dead to come back. It was unnatural and in Kagome's opinion, it should be fixed.  
Kagome nodded in the dark, even though Kaede couldn't see her. She dressed herself properly and pinned her sash to her shoulder and hip. She was just picking up her bow and counting her arrows, when she felt the hanyou's presence come closer. Kikyo's followed right after. Kagome looked out the window and glanced at the sky. The moon was at a waxing stage and was maybe a night away from a full moon. The rustling of the doormat yanked her from her thoughts and caused her to take caution. She lit the lamp so she could see and Kaede blinked as the light reached her eyes. Kikyo entered the hut with an arrow strung into her bow and Inuyasha followed closely.  
"Kikyo, where is the Jewel?" Inuyasha asked.  
"In her shirt" she said and then spoke to the girl. "Kagome, you've bound your chest flat! Have you no feminine pride??"  
"Well, I must be a little more *busty* then you, because it's easier to fight when I'm bound down." Kagome retorted.  
Kikyo stuck her nose in the air in response and 'hmph'ed.  
"Where in her shirt?" Inuyasha interrupted.  
"Between her *bound down* breast." Kikyo emphasized the fact that she thought Kagome was more 'masculine'.   
Kagome could see the glow, too, in the space that the rosary had taken up.  
"Come and get it, hanyou," she muttered, "I dare you."  
Kikyo, of course, didn't hear what the girl said, but Inuyasha's acute hearing picked up every syllable.  
"Heh, don't mind if my claws go right through you, though!"  
The real Miko pulled out two of her knives and took a fighting stance while muttering 'pervert'. Inuyasha cracked his claws and then took the same stance, ignoring the comment.  
"Oy! Take the Fight OUTSIDE!!" Kaede hollered at them.  
"Keh!" Inuyasha ignored her and lunged at Kagome. She swung out of the way and thrusted her knife. It caught him in the mid-back.  
"Why do *you* want the jewel?" Kikyo asked her harshly as she fired an arrow. Kagome dropped her knives and then caught the arrow before it could pierce her skin and notched it to her bow.   
"I want to know more about it. How it came to be...though I don't suppose that *you* could tell me?" Kagome responded as the shot the arrow at her opponent's leg. It missed and thudded into the wall.  
"Tsk. That arrow wasn't straight! I was going to nail you to the wall through your leg. SIT boy." She added as Inuyasha leapt up while her attention was divided.  
WHAM!  
Kaede raised her eyebrows in amusement. "A few more of those would do him good..."  
"How dare you accuse me of keeping faulty arrows!" Kikyo glared at Kagome coldly. "Did it occur to you that my leg might have moved? Or that your aim isn't *perfect*?"   
"I did, but it's not likely."   
"You think too highly of yourself." Kikyo scorned her.  
"What *would* I be if I didn't think myself higher than the undead?" Kagome retorted.  
"Why you-you-you...BITCH!!" Kikyo screeched and launched herself at her reincarnation.  
"Bit harsh coming from you, *Kikyo*. Me? The Bitch? Not likely." Kagome responded lightly as she dodged the attack. Kikyo went flying onto the ground.  
"You're not one for one-on-one combat, are you?" Kagome asked as Kikyo shot her a look of pure venom as she shakily got up off the ground. "To be honest, I'm not usually one for that kind of stuff either, but I will beat you if that's how you want to fight."  
"You will fight OUTSIDE!!!" Kaede reminded them.  
"Fine then." Kagome ran outside and heard her two assassins follow her.  
"I cannot believe you." Kikyo picked fun at her. "You are a girl, yet you bind your chest."  
"We went over this already: my bosom must be larger than yours because it's easier to fight when I'm bound down."  
Before Kikyo could answer, Inuyasha charged at Kagome and grabbed at the part of her shirt where the Jewel was. Kagome was too surprised to subdued him. Instead she yelled 'PERVERT!!' and smacked him over the head.  
The Jewel went flying. Kikyo caught it. Kagome swung a punch at Kikyo so Kikyo chucked the Jewel in the air and yelled, "INUYASHA! GET IT!!"  
Kagome growled in frustration and grabbed Inuyasha's back as he took off.   
"SIT!" she yelled as they neared the Jewel. She jumped as the prayer beads reacted and he rocketed to the ground. She was about to grab the jewel when her sixth sense told her to dodge NOW. As she twisted her body in the air, Kikyo's magic arrow shot passed her and to everyone's horror it struck the jewel. Kagome watched, as she fell, in slow motion the jewel cracked and shattered into millions of pieces. There was a white flash of light that lit up the land and then she saw tiny pieces of glowing pink fall. She reached out and managed to catch one of the tiny shards, as is fell. Then she started to panic.  
"AIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!" She yelled. "I'M FALLLLLLLINGGGGGGGGGGGGG~!!!!"  
This was it. She was going to die holding a shard of the Shikon no Tama.   
Inuyasha sighed impatiently.  
The next thing Kagome knew was a pair of clawed hands had caught her.  
"eh?" she scrambled out of his arms.  
"Wh-wh-wh-why did you SAVE ME??"  
"Why DID you save HER, Inuyasha??" Kikyo asked with malice.   
"Well it would be no fun if you died because you fell. I want to kill you."  
"Gee thanks." Kagome responded dryly. "But I have no intention of dieing."  
"Too bad." Kikyo said with another arrow in her bow. "You die now. Inuyasha...this time you WON'T interfere unless I tell you to, is that clear?"  
"Keh."  
"Heh. You sound like a coward, Kikyo. Accepting help from someone to gang up me. You asked for it." Kagome lunged at Kikyo and chucked her bow away before she could shoot it. Kagome pinned Kikyo down to the ground in 10 seconds flat.  
"This is like play fighting with my little brother!" Kagome smirked evilly. "Only more fun because I hate *you*"  
Kikyo did a backwards summersault and tossed Kagome off.  
They continued to throw punches at each other until Kikyo started getting desperate.  
Inuyasha watched the fight from a few feet away. It was rather confusing for him because Kagome's scent filled the air as well as Kikyo's and they were both wearing the same thing with black hair pulled back.  
"INUYASHA!! HELP ME-mph!" Kagome silenced Kikyo by knocking her in the mouth with her fist.  
"Get out of there, Kikyo! I'm coming in with my claws!!"   
Kagome was faster than Kikyo. She dodged out of there as there was a swoosh of claws fell behind her.  
The fact that Kagome's scent was now all over Kikyo and that Kikyo was dressed like Kagome killed her. Inuyasha, thinking that he had just slashed Kagome to pieces, stood up until he saw the blood disappear and the skin and bones of the girl turn to pottery.   
He had just killed Kikyo.  
  
***  
  
There was total silence outside the hut for a few seconds. Inuyasha's furry was building inside of him as horror washed over Kagome.   
After attempting to say something comforting, all that she found her self whispering was "I'm...sorry......for you..." in a chocked voice. They were her enemies but...he had just slashed his partner because he thought she was herself. And that had to hurt.  
"How....would you know...how I feel...you...you...HUMAN!!" he roared at her.   
The horror washed away to boiling anger. She unstuck her throat and lost all sympathy for him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HOW WOULD I KNOW?? WHAT DO *YOU* KNOW, HUH? YOU DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT ME, SO DON'T YOU DARE JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS!! YOU HEAR??"   
Inuyasha leapt up into the air and swung his claws at her.  
"I...don't CARE IF YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"  
"Just you try HANYOU!"  
Inuyasha stopped and then his blood boiled hotter. "Don't you DARE diss hanyou's, human. I may want to be a youkai more than anything but I still spent ALL of my life as a hanyou."  
"Oh really? So when's your time of the month?"  
"HUH? I AM A *GUY*!! I DON'T GET A 'TIME OF THE MONTH'!!!"  
"No, if you're a hanyou, you have at least one day a month when you turn human, correct?"  
"KEH. IT'S NOT LIKE I'M GONNA TELL *YOU*, HUMAN!"  
"DON'T diss me because I'm a human. Unlike you I HATE being a human. We are weak and have too many limits. THAT'S why I had my father train me the way he did, so that I *could* travel where I wanted to and still be able to defend myself. Do you know *how* much easier it all would be if I was a demon?"  
"I...DON'T...CARE!!"  
He was about to leap when a lamp light up the area. They two of the shielded their eyes, the light ruining their night vision momentarily, and then saw Kaede holding the lamp.   
"So...who won?" she asked.  
Then her eyes fell upon the pottery and then Inuyasha's expression.   
"...oh..." she nodded while piecing the whole thing together. "...and what was that bright flash?"  
"...Kikyo accidentally shattered the Jewel with her magic arrow." Kagome explained as she calmed down. She extracted the shard that she had caught from the space she had put it (she keeps *everything* in that space between her breasts). "This is all I have."  
Inuyasha made a snatch for it but Kagome knocked his hand away.  
"Don't make me say *it*, Inuyasha. I'm feeling sorry for you because I *do* know how you feel but I will *not* give up this shard."  
Inuyasha stopped his attack. "What's 'it'?"  
Kagome sighed impatiently, "what rhymes with 'It', Inuyasha?"  
"Bit, dit...no that's Ditz..., fit, git, hit, it, kit, lit, mitt, nit...am I getting warmer?"  
Kagome sighed again, "keep going..."  
"...pit, quit, sit...am I closer?"  
Kagome concluded that his grief was making him stupid.  
"Shall I tell you the answer, seeing as you're too slow to realize that you said it already?"  
"Wha-? I did? Oh...NO WAIT DON'T SAY IT-!"  
"Sit."  
"WAAAAAA-"  
BAM~!  
Kaede spoke up, "Yes, it's the only way. I have a perfect way to piece together the shards."  
"Eh?" they asked in union.  
"You're going to have to work as a team!"  
"ME...work with HER...?????"  
"Yo! Lady! Do you want this Jewel to *ever* be pieced together?? He's_Trying_To_Kill_Me!!" Kagome questioned her sanity.  
"I don't need *him/her*" they said in unison.  
"Yes, you do. Kagome, you need Inuyasha's strength and his will to kill things ("hey!") and Inuyasha, you need Kagome's miko powers."  
Inuyasha turned sour again while muttering that if Kikyo were still here, he'd have all the miko power he needed.  
Kagome directed a stony glare in his direction. "DON'T look at me like *I* killed her."  
"It was your fault." His hissed lethally back.   
"HOW?? BECAUSE YOU WANTED THIS GOD FORSAKEN JEWEL THAT IT WAS MY FAULT THAT KIKYO WAS KILLED OVER IT??"  
"Again." Kaede sighed.  
Inuyasha probably would have ripped Kaede's head off if Kagome hadn't of intervened.  
"When do we start?" she snapped.  
"I think tomorrow would be best." Kaede suggested.  
"I'm NOT going with you." Inuyasha snarled.   
"You're right. You're not. Sit."  
WHAM  
"####### it BITCH!!"   
"You really SHOULD watch your language Inuyasha...at LEAST say the 'F' word if you're going to swear..." Kagome tutted.  
"Shut UP. AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS."  
"SOMEbody's PMSing..." Kagome muttered.  
He glared hard.  
"Yes, I can see that you two will work together MARVELOUSLY~!*sarcasm, sarcasm* Come on inside and rest and then you can set out tomorrow morning." Kaede grinned.  
"Um...can we maybe leave the day after tomorrow? I need to travel home quickly. I should be back by around noon, the day after tomorrow." Kagome stammered.  
"Of course. It will give Inuyasha time to cool down, too, over his...loss."  
Kagome went inside to get some sleep.  
"KEH. It's not like I MISS Kikyo or anything. But I'm NOT traveling with another human." He spoke stubbornly.  
Kaede sighed. Time for reverse psychology.  
"I thought so, Inuyasha. I didn't think you could travel with a *human*. You're too GOOD for them, aren't you? And too stubborn AND you're afraid that she might be better than you in a way...I should have known." Kaede sighed dramatically.  
Inuyasha drew himself up proudly. "*I* can do ANYTHING better than her! She's a *human*!"  
"Oh really?" Kaede raised her eyebrows.  
"Just you watch!! I'LL go with her on the search for the jewel shards AND I won't kill her."  
"*Promise* you won't kill her?" Kaede gave him a testy smirk.  
"I swear it on my father's grave." He replied haughtily.  
"Thank you, Inuyasha."  
That was when Inuyasha realized what he'd gotten himself into, but being the stubborn, proud, hanyou that he was he didn't go back on his word. He scowled darkly and said his favourite syllable.  
"keh."   
  
***  
  
As dawn spread over the trees, Inuyasha opened his eyes. Something shot up from the ground at his back but his hand reached out and grabbed it.   
It was a flying persimmon.  
How odd.  
"Have a good breakfast." Came a feminine voice from bellow.  
"Kikyo?" he muttered and whirled around.  
Oh. Just that Kagome twit.  
"What did you do to it?" he asked suspiciously as he sniffed it over.  
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Nothing, but if you don't want it, then I'll have it."   
He took a bite out of it and tasted it.  
"You didn't add any poisons?"  
"If I wanted to kill you, I'd do it honorably."  
Inuyasha 'hmph'ed and then took another bite normally.   
"I'll see you tomorrow, then." She called as she left.   
"Huh? Where are you going??"  
"Home, baka. I said that yesterday. I'll be back by noon, tomorrow."  
"Why do you want to go home?? Why can't we leave to look for the jewel NOW???" he hopped down from the tree in front of her. She walked around him.  
"I want to tell my family news of the jewel."  
"That's it?? That can wait!!"  
"No, that's not it...but the other reason is none of your business."  
"What do you mean, it's none of my business?? It HAS to be my business, if we're going to have to travel together!!" he tried to reason with her.   
"You don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you. I'll get to know you better, if you'll let me, when I get back. Good bye."  
"No! I'm not letting you go home!! YOU'RE leaving with me to look for the broken Jewel!!!"  
"No, I'm not."  
"Oh yea?" he challenged.  
"Yea. Sit."  
"AAAAAUGH!!"  
WHAM!!  
"#*$@# #*@*#* *#*$*#*##*$$!!!!!!!"  
"And watch your language."   
"*$#***#$*#!!!"  
  
***  
  
Inuyasha sulked in his tree on the edge of the forest for the remainder of the day (and for the entire night).  
"Inuyasha," Kaede called up to him a few hours after sun-down, "you're face might stick like that. Plus you're wearing out those 42 face muscles that it takes to frown."  
"Keh."   
"If you're bored, you could go and hunt for something to eat."  
"Yea I'll go hunt for Kagome and eat her. It's taking her so friggen long."  
"Gosh, Inuyasha, can it be that you *miss* her?" Kaede teased.  
"What do you want for dinner..." He snarled. "And I do *not* miss either of them."  
"I actually don't expect her to be back until late tomorrow night. True, I don't know where her home is, but she can't possibly travel that fast..."  
"You want Kagome for dinner?"  
"*sigh*, No, I do not want anything human for dinner. Fish would be good. I'll roll it up with some of the rice I have and wrap that in seaweed. I'm surprised at you, Inuyasha. You're being so nice to fish for a poor old lady at this hour in the night..."  
"I'm not doing you a favour, I'm doing it to increase my boredom. Fishing is the most boring thing to do."  
"Except for waiting for someone."  
"Whatever."  
He gracefully took off from the tree and soared to the river while muttering 'poor old lady my ass...'. He sat on the bank and waited for a trout to swim by. He hated to admit it but of the sushi that he had ever tried, (not often) Kaede's was the best.   
He stared in the quickly flowing water. Nothing. Not one fricken fish.   
Truly boring.  
He stared into the flowing river. Kikyo...in his daydream, he pictured the silky haired priestess. For some reason he couldn't get the image to smile at him. When he managed to have the Kikyo image smile at him, it quickly faded into Kagome. Somehow he could imagine her smiling so much more easily. He scowled. Damn that girl. Already, she was invading his thoughts. He was so lost in his mutterings that he nearly missed the trout that swam by. He stabbed his claws at the fish but it was too quick. Inuyasha lost his balance and splooshed in to the running river.  
"DAMN!" he choked.   
Something giggled at him from the other side of the river. He blushed. He was so sure that he had been alone but to know that someone else had seen him...  
He growled.   
"You should be more careful, Inuyasha!" the voice giggled again.  
He leapt out of the river onto the side of the bank that he had originally been on.  
"Who's there?" he snarled.  
The voice only giggled.  
He scanned the trees for the source of the voice and his golden eyes revealed his hidden surprise when they locked onto a pair of stark blue ones.   
"Who...?"  
The eyes smiled at him. The rest of her face was hidden by her raven black hair but in the pitch-black darkness, his eyes still picked up the pointed ears on her head. Another Hanyou. He had just encountered another Hanyou!  
"Who ARE you???"   
She was beginning to frustrate him.  
"Do I know you??" he asked as he leapt to cross the river.  
"No." the female replied. He neared her to pick up a scent. Anything...  
No, wait...He liked Kikyo... WHAT DID THIS FEMALE HANYOU THINK SHE WAS TRYING TO DO???  
He snarled at her, "If you're NOT going to introduce yourself, then LEAVE!!"   
"I'm sorry. I'll introduce myself another time. It was nice meeting another hanyou, though."  
He blinked.  
She shrugged. "I'll see you around, Inuyasha."   
One of the blue eyes winked at him and then she was gone.  
  
He ran to the spot that she had been and sniffed around. A fish. He found a fresh fish where she had been.   
His fish now.  
He took it back to Kaede's hut and said almost nothing for the rest of the night.  
  
***  
  
"Inuyasha, it's almost mid-day." Kaede called.  
Inuyasha leapt out of his tree that he had sulked in for the rest of the night and started to search for Kagome. She SHOULD be around if it was almost mid-day. As the sun reached the top of the sky, he started getting frustrated.  
"Kagome! Where are you, wench???"  
WHAP!  
A stone that he failed to catch whacked him in the back of the head.  
"WHO'S THERE??" He yelled. He searched for the deep blue eyes that he had encountered last night. He heard someone snickering at him and found Kagome's chocolate brown ones. He 'keh'ed and turned his nose up in the air.  
"What took you so long??"   
"Nothing. It's mid-day, Inuyasha!" she 'papped' him on the head.   
He quirked his eyes at the smile on her face.   
"Well aren't you just so happy today..." he mumbled bad temperedly.   
"Ah, yes...and aren't you just normal today?"   
She grinned wickedly as he ran after her with his hand ready to whack her.   
  
Kaede stared from her window as she watched Kagome run towards the tiny town with Inuyasha close behind her. His face was furious but hers was a picture of delight.  
"They're practically in *love* now..." she muttered and shook her head.   
  
Inuyasha swung his hand and it got caught in her hair.  
"OUCH!" she exclaimed as both her hands reached back to untangle his claws. "Watch it!"   
Her sleeves fell down to her elbows as she continued to massage her head.  
Inuyasha frowned. "Didn't you have wounds on your arm, last night?" he asked her quizzically. "From that badger a while ago?"  
Her eyes faltered and then she said, "Yes. But in my village, we have a very good doctor. He put a salve on the cuts and they healed by morning." She explained.  
"I see..."   
She headed to the hut.  
"Where are you going?? We have to look for the Jewel shards!!!" he frantically reminded her.  
"Oh that's right!" she smiled with a goofy grin. "I almost forgot!"  
"NO, you didn't..."   
"I know. Let's pack some food first."  
"No, I'll hunt. We'll travel lighter that way."  
"I have to have my food *cooked*, Inuyasha. I'm getting some spices. Hold on."  
He waited impatiently for her. "COOKED..." he muttered. "Stupid humans..."  
  
*****  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
So...? Did you like it? ^________^ I hope so, cause I'm gonna keep writing this fic. I have a lot of ideas for it! ^.~  
R+R~~!!  
  
-Kirara  
=^.^= 


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